Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 15.djvu/211

151 Ill ADHYAYA, 9 BRAHMAiVA, 28. 151

' Brahman* who is knowledge and bliss, he is the principle, both to him who gives gifts 1, and also to him who stands firm, and knows.'

(and there is an end of all questioning), I say, No ; he is born again, and the question is, How ?' This is much too artificial. The order of the verses in the Madhyandina-j&kh£ is better on the whole, leading up more naturally to the question, ' From what root then does a mortal grow up, after he has been felled by death ?' When the Br&hmans cannot answer, Ya^wavalkya answers, or the «Sruti declares, that the root from whence a mortal springs again, after death, is Brahman.

1 *Sankara explains r&tir d&tuh as r&ter datu^, a reading adopted by the M&dhyandinas. He then arrives at the statement that Brahman is the principle or the last source, also the root of a new life, both for those who practise works and for those who, having relinquished works, stand firm in knowledge. Regnaud (II, p. 138) translates: 'C'est Brahma (qui est) Tintelligence, le bonheur, la richesse, le but supreme de celui qui oflfre (des sacrifices), et de celui qui reside (en lui), de celui qui connait/

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